Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

There are neither predecessors nor successors...

This is where the Noctilux50/1.0 really comes in.

Today's topic begins with a 50/1.0 shot of Florence.

COSINA's Flenda brand is difficult to compete with Leica in terms of brand value, and their VM lens cannot achieve equal status with Leica M lens. However, the Japanese seem to be holding their breath, as if they want to pick a Leica, so in the case of retaining the VM50/1.2 lens, another 50/1.0 lens will be launched in 2022, and this lens will cost as much as 220,000 yen, which is the most expensive VM lens ever made by Florence.

However, this lens is also difficult to challenge Leica Noctilux lens status, although it is already the most expensive of these challengers, but also a very good one.

Technically, the Frenda 50/1.0 dazzles better than the Noctilux 50/1.0 lens developed in the 1970s, but it is still unlikely to achieve the same popularity.

Today we're going to study this lens, which was produced from 1976 to 2008.

And my opinion is: modern super-large aperture lens, even domestic lens will soon be able to fully exceed the performance of this half-century ago design of 7 6 groups of double Gaussian structure lens. However, it is difficult for people to find a psychological replacement for it, that is, to find a lens that can replace it as a representative of the development of super-aperture lenses.

As soon as 1.0 is mentioned, camera enthusiasts will think of it, not other lenses.

Let's look at three common styles of this lens.

58mm caliber version, 1975 - 1978, model 11821

60mm caliber version, divided into 1978 - 1982 version and 1983 - 1993 version, different appearance, model 11821

60mm caliber, hood in one new version, 1994 - 2008, model 11822

This lens was manufactured in Canada over the years, with an aperture of 58mm at the earliest and later adjusted to 60mm, but the optical structure was not adjusted from 1976 to 2008, and it was a classic 7 - 6 double Gaussian structure. There are many large-aperture lenses, including a large number of SLR lenses that use the same structure. The lens itself does not have aspheric lenses, but has two very high refractive index lenses, using special glass number leitz 900/1, originally developed for the previous generation 50/1.2 lens, which has a refractive index of up to 1.9 and a dispersion of only 40.5.

Below, we formally talk about the historical positioning and value of this lens.

Before World War II, humans had been able to develop lenses with extremely large apertures, but in the 135 field, this number reached a maximum of 1.5.

Albrecht Wilhelm Tronnier, a legendary optical designer at Schneider AG, designed the XENON 50/1.5 lens for Leica in 1935, the forerunner of a series of future ultra-large aperture double Gaussian lenses.

Ludwig Bertele of Zeiss developed the 1.8 aperture ERONSTAR lens for use on 120 at the age of 24, and in 1932 he developed three sets of asymmetric SONNAR 50/1.5 lenses, surprisingly using two 3 lens fits.

These two clues would take the aperture of 50mm lenses to new heights in the 1950s.

We cannot ignore the fatal blow of the Cold War pattern to the German optical industry, while the Japanese not only took advantage of the rise of precision machinery, but even challenged the German position as the world's optical master for half a century. Whether it was civil, military or commercial, German optics were unmatched in the first half of the 20th century.

In 1953, Japan's Imperial Optics launched the first lens in the history of civilian optics to break through 1.5 aperture, ZUNOW 50/1.1 lens, which is a SONNAR structure super aperture lens, launched two versions, one of which actually used a 4-piece fitting lens group.

In 1954, Fuji introduced a SONNAR structure of 8 pieces of 4 sets, 2 sets of 3 fits, and in 1956 Konica introduced a 60/1.2 lens (designed in 1954), which was also SONNAR structure, but the front group of 4 pieces did not fit, and the rear group had a 3 fit.

The first double-Gauss super-aperture lens was Nikon's 50/1.1 lens in 1956, which was more complex than later double-Gauss super-aperture lenses due to material limitations.

The lens with the highest refractive index on this lens is only 1.71, but it is optical glass after all, with a dispersion of 47.9. The resin lens with a refractive index of 1.71 in the glasses city has an Abbe number of 37.

Japan's largest aperture lens in the era of ultra-large aperture was Canon's 50/0.95 lens introduced in 1960, breaking the 1.0 mark for the first time in civilian photography. This lens looks like an ashtray.

However, none of these five lenses can represent a super-aperture header.

They basically have the following characteristics:

1. The optical structure design is immature, and the symbolic significance of fully open aperture is greater than the use significance.

2. Expensive, small output, short production time

3. No follow-up footage developed

4. Lack of mounting platform (Nikon, Canon abandon paraxial, Imperial optics collapse, Fuji, Konica no related system, L39 screw port fading)

Faced with Japanese madness, Germans chose silence...

... until 1966.

The German company Zeiss suffered a fatal blow in the split, so they only introduced a 1.2 aperture lens in the SLR platform later.

Leica developed the 50/1.2 aspherical super-aperture lens, named Noctilux, after the M camera craze grew stronger and after the super-aperture fever in Japan faded. It was one of the most legendary M-shots before it was re-engraved on Main Street.

This is one of the first 50/1.2 trials in 1964, which sold for 360,000 euros at auction in the previous months. Leica officials also added some information about the development of this lens. The 50/1.2 lens uses two lenses, Leica claims to greatly reduce spherical phase difference and coma, and has a high contrast ratio. In fact, Leica officials say that it is greatly reduced, only relative to those Japanese heads that cannot be used. At 50/1.2, the lens still performed poorly and was difficult to process.

After 10 years of trouble, only 1800 pieces were made, which provided an opportunity for the launch of 50/1.0.

Therefore, the Leica 50/1.2 aspheric attempt actually made the same mistake as the Japanese super-aperture lens, focusing on showmanship and ignoring the practicality of the lens.

Let's take a look at the Japanese ones. Leica 50/1.2 accounts for a few:

1. The optical structure design is immature, and the symbolic meaning of full aperture is greater than the use meaning.

Although the aspheric surface has been calculated by computer, it has not been polished by CNC machine tools, and the manufacturing cost is very high.

2. Expensive, small output, short production time

The price of a 50/1.2 is twice that of an M4. Although the lens is designed by computer, there is no CNC grinding technology in that era, and the manufacturing cost is too high. Only 1800 were produced in 10 years.

3. No follow-up footage developed

4. Lack of platform

However, Leica's last two shots are different from Japanese lenses.

Leica did not give up its ultra-large aperture lens because of the difficulties of aspheric lenses. For Leica M System, which was in serious crisis in the 1970s, a flag lens was necessary. Noctilux was a symbol of Leica's difference from Japanese lenses.

At the same time, the M port is equipped with a stable platform, which can provide follow-up lens development.

In the 1970s Leica finally chose the right approach to develop the Noctilux lens, making it a true legend.

Below we list the development ideas for Leica Noctilux lenses, which I summarized from Leica's own and Italian MARCO CAVINA professional interpretations.

1. Leicas material advantage, 900/1 special glass as the core development

2. Instead of studying new structures, based on double Gaussian structures, spherical aberration and coma are corrected by adding lenses, and flashy aspheric technology is abandoned.

3. Save costs, control prices, increase production, and maintain this product for a long time.

In this way, Leica 50/1.0, the legendary Noctilux Night God lens was born.

Compared to the previous generation 50/1.2, it has lower manufacturing costs, lower price (half the release price of 50/1.2), and better performance. At 1.0 aperture, contrast, resolution, spherical aberration, and dispersion are excellent. Especially when the lens is at 5.6 aperture, the performance completely exceeds 50/1.2, which is more suitable for the use of color film.

Leica realized their idea, using a common structure combined with high-quality materials to create a super aperture classic lens.

However, this alone cannot be made into a legend. The reason why this lens is important is related to the background of the era in which it is located.

From 1976 to 1990, it was the largest aperture civilian optical lens. The Japanese lens was subject to the SLR structure, and the structural conditions at that time could only achieve an aperture of 1.2. So Leica 50/1.0 stands out from the crowd in terms of indicators.

Although Canon introduced the EF50/1.0 lens in 1987, this lens was the new head of the EOS system, pursuing indicators and flashy, but instead repeating the mistakes of the 1950s, Canon replaced it with a more pragmatic 50/1.2L red circle.

It can be said that from 1976 to around 2008, that is, in the long production life of this lens, he made a full 30 years of 135 lens aperture to the highest point.

Over the long years, people's understanding of breaking through the 1.4 aperture has been tied to this lens.

In addition, it does have excellent performance in the 1970s and 1990s, Leica 50/1.0 performance at aperture 1.0, especially contrast, is better than many SLR lenses 1.4 aperture, although everyone's design is similar.

Although the most expensive 135 header in the world, 50/1.0 is still supported by Leica Iron Powder, although its total production is also small, about 20,000.

In other words, all the super-aperture lenses you've seen over the last decade are causally related to this Noctilux, and maybe they use a lot of aspherical technology, ED technology, and more sophisticated calculations. However, the concept of these lenses was defined by Noctilux, as the 1.0 aperture level was considered a failed solution in the past.

On the other hand, we see all kinds of night god, night god is specifically referring to Leica lens, successors even the name is greatly influenced by this lens. In front of the super CMOS high sensitivity of digital cameras, 2.8 aperture lenses can become night gods.

So, do you want to buy one to play with? My personal recommendation is to buy 50/0.95, brand value is the same, Noctilux genuine successor, excellent performance, of course, it is indeed much more expensive than 50/1.0.

At present, the price of 50/1.0 is about 35,000 - 45,000. The octagonal hood (commonly known as the 4th generation) is more expensive, and the old version of 58mm is more expensive. This price is now roughly equivalent to a brand new MP body.

This article comes from Weixin Official Accounts: Film Fan Club (ID: jiaojianmi), by Shanghai Old Dirty Turtle

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.